The Bakers and the Caterers
by unknownbyhim22
Summary: FOUR SHOT! “People are like cakes. They are sweet and pretty at first, but they eventually fall apart and mold.” Taylor replied. “And that, girls, is why we don’t have men in our lives; we compare them to cakes.” Gabriella answered honestly.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! This is a short FOUR SHOT! I've never really done a short story like this before, but I like it. The chapters are pretty short and sweet so enjoy! **

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The Bakers and the Caterers

Chapter one

Gabriella Montez was behind the glass counter where an array of colorful cakes sat. She slowly slid one of the cakes out of the display counter and smiled as she saw the happy couple standing before her. A piece of her curly hair fell from behind her ear, dangling in front of her face and she quickly moved it away with the same smile. She had a pink and brown apron on and the name tag she wore to work everyday shined perfectly.

"This cake comes in the wedding style. This is only the small version of it." Gabriella said with a smile.

"It's beautiful." The blonde woman said as her eyes sparkled with happiness. The man she was with nodded in agreement, but his eyes were shinning because he was looking at the woman.

Gabriella smiled even more and nodded.

"It's one of our best." Gabriella agreed.

"How many levels can you make it?" The woman asked as she examined the cake a little more.

"How many would you like?" Gabriella asked.

The woman smiled and looked at the man that was with her. He gave her a subtle nod and a wink, making her smile become even bigger.

"Five." She smiled.

"We can do that." Gabriella answered.

Gabriella thought the woman was about to squeal and dance around the cake store, but she just continued to smile and take in the scent of the store.

"We'll take it." She said with a nod. "Five layers. Everything's perfect so if you can make everything the same exact way, that would be wonderful. We'll need it on May 23rd."

"All you have to do is fill out this form, and you'll see a cake just like this one on May 23rd." Gabriella answered in a sing song voice.

"Great. Thank you." She said as she took the form from Gabriella and then the man's hand, walking over to the round chairs that were set up by a stone table for more official cake meetings.

Gabriella smiled once more before she walked into the kitchen where her two best friends and co-workers stood decorating cakes. She hummed as she surveyed the cakes' progress and she casually stole some frosting from a bowl.

"We just sold another cake. We need to start making the Strawberry Fun cake." Gabriella instructed her team.

"Wow, how many Strawberry Funs have we sold this week?" The dark haired woman asked from where she was putting fondant on a chocolate cake.

"Well, Taylor, thanks to Sharpay, we've sold four this week." Gabriella said as she pulled some empty cake pans from the shelves next to her and set them on the counter by the girls.

"I didn't do anything special." Sharpay said with a shrug. "I was inspired by some stilettos I saw."

"Well, thank you for being addicted to shoes." Gabriella laughed.

"You're welcome!" Sharpay said proudly.

"How long do you think the couple that was just in here will last?" Taylor asked.

"Hmm…." Sharpay started.

"We really shouldn't do that anymore, girls. Don't you feel like we're jinxing people when we guess how long they'll last?" Gabriella asked as she looked up at her friends.

"People are like cakes. They are sweet and pretty at first, but they eventually fall apart and mold." Taylor replied.

"And that, girls, is why we don't have men in our lives; we compare them to cakes." Gabriella answered honestly.

"We'll find some worthy guys eventually. People just don't understand the commitment that goes into cakes." Sharpay replied with a nod.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for us, people would have nothing to wish on, on birthdays." Taylor said.

"Or eat when they just broke up with the person they've been dating since high school." Sharpay as she stabbed a discarded piece of cake with her frosting knife.

Gabriella and Taylor exchanged a quick look and nodded slowly. They were quiet after that, getting lost in the cakes they were working on. Gabriella came out of the kitchen about two hours later when she heard the store door open. She walked out and was startled when she saw a woman with blood shot eyes, blowing her nose in a tissue.

"Are you Gabriella? The owner here?" She asked.

"Yeah, that's me."

"I came in a few days ago." The girl explained. "Is there any way I can cancel the order that I placed?" She asked.

"Well… we already made…" Gabriella stopped herself and nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, that's fine."

"Thank you." The girl sniffled. "You can keep the money. My ex doesn't deserve the money back." She said.

"Okay." Gabriella said with a nod.

She stayed in her spot by the kitchen door until the girl was out of the store. She walked back into the kitchen sadly, shaking her head in disagreement.

"Sorry, Shar, but you can get rid of that cake." Gabriella said. "The girl from last week just canceled it."

"Who called it?" Taylor chanted competitively.

Gabriella grabbed the closes utensil and walked over to Sharpay's cake. She stabbed the side of it and put a piece of the creamy cake into her mouth. Taylor and Sharpay joined her, leaning up against the counter as they looked at the cakes baking in the oven.

"Sometimes this job makes me lonely." Gabriella sighed.

"Tell me about it." Sharpay said with a nod, stuffing another scoop of cake into her mouth.

"We'll find someone." Taylor reassured them again.

"Hope so." Gabriella said through her cake filled mouth.

Gabriella, Sharpay, and Taylor were in a van, transferring the wedding cake that was ordered a few days before, to the wedding hall. Gabriella was driving, and Taylor and Sharpay were in the back, making sure the cake wouldn't fall over or get damaged. They were listening to their "cake delivering music", which was only a mixed CD that Sharpay made a year before when they first opened the store. They sang along and Gabriella looked from her rear view mirror to the road a few times to check on the cake.

The girls pulled up to a nicely decorated reception hall. A long cream carpet ran from the street to the inside of the building and the girls smiled as they got the cake out of the van.

"Don't drop it." Gabriella cringed.

"We've done this plenty of times, Gabs." Taylor laughed. "We won't drop it."

"This could be a first though… just be careful!" Gabriella instructed nervously.

"Chill, Gabs." Sharpay laughed as her high heels clicked against the floor.

Gabriella rolled her eyes at her, knowing it would be impossible to chill when Sharpay was carrying a cake in high heels. Taylor laughed too and before Gabriella had time to scream, the cake tipped sideways.

"Girls!" She gasped.

Sharpay and Taylor moved swiftly and before they had time to regain their footing, the cake was already standing up, no damage done to it. The girls breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the men holding the cake. They had noticed the girls having trouble taking the cake in and were going to offer to help, and then they saw it falling and were close enough to catch it before it barely left the girls' hands.

"Oh my God, thank you!" The girls said together.

The two guys laughed and the tall dark man spoke.

"I'm guessing this goes with all the other food?"

The girls nodded and watched as the cake disappeared with the men.

"Is it just me or are they wearing chef outfits?" Sharpay asked as she watched them leave.

"Yup." Taylor agreed.

"They're hot!" Sharpay announced.

"You almost ruined our cake! We are not getting the luxury of flirting today!" Gabriella said quickly, grabbing the girls by their wrists and pulling them into the ballroom where the food was arranged at the side of the room, centered in front of three huge, long windows.

Gabriella examined the cake as Sharpay and Taylor went to find the wedding planner. She fixed a slanted flower and stepped back to look at the cake that matched all of the other desserts. She wondered if the bride and groom based their weeding theme and colors off of the cake and by the looks of the room, she didn't have to wonder for long.

"This is a nice cake." A man's voice said from behind her.

Gabriella turned to see who was complimenting her cake and smiled with a nod.

"Thank you." She said as she scanned his chef outfit quickly.

"You're the baker right?" He asked.

"Well, I'm the owner of the bakery; I didn't get to make this one." She explained.

"Do you make a lot of the cakes for the local weddings?" He asked.

"Yeah, for the most part. We're new at this, so we don't have too many customers yet."

"Well, I've done at least five events where your cakes were the center of attention. This is the first time I had a chance to complement one." He replied.

Taylor and Sharpay stopped as they entered the ballroom. Their eyes were drawn to the cake where Gabriella was talking to a shaggy haired man with a chef outfit on.

"I thought we weren't allowed to flirt today." Taylor whispered to Sharpay.

Sharpay was too distracted to reply to Taylor, she was intently watching her friend talk to this man, the wedding cake right in the center of the backdrop.

"Quick, how long do you think they'll last?" Sharpay asked.

"What?" Taylor asked as she looked back at Gabriella.

Sharpay sighed and pointed to Gabriella.

"Well, I don't see any flaws yet… he obviously can cook… Gabriella's smiling… the air isn't too hot or cold… hmm… I see them lasting for…" Taylor slowed down and looked over at Sharpay.

"Forever?" Sharpay guessed.

Taylor nodded and gave Sharpay a high five.

"What exactly do you do?" Gabriella asked the man with a smile.

"I'm the caterer." He chuckled. "Most people aren't as blown away by potato salad and roast beef." He smiled.

"Hey, when I see a good potato salad, I'm always blown away." Gabriella smiled.

"Well, maybe one of these days you'll get to taste it, but for now, I have to get back to work." He said with a nod.

"Have fun." Gabriella smile.

"Same to you."

Gabriella smiled as she watched him walk away, two of his co-workers joining him. She walked away from her cake that was perfect and in place, and as she exited the ballroom she suddenly had an idea for an ocean blue cake.

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**In the next chapter we get to meet 'the caterers'! Review!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Thanks for the tons of reviews! And for everyone who asked "How do you come up with all these oneshots/ideas" the answer is: I have no idea. I'm just a random person. :) So here's the next chapter! Let's met these Caterers! Enjoy! **

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The Bakers and the Caterers

Chapter two

"And that, guys, is why we don't have girls in our lives. We compare them to food." A shaggy haired man said as he chopped up an array of vegetables on a thick wooden cutting board.

"Dude, Troy, that's totally not why." The man that was cutting up meat next to him said.

"Chad, why else don't we have girlfriends?" Troy asked with an eye roll as he chopped faster.

"Because we're too busy." The other dark skinned man said from his spot by the stove.

"Zeke's right." Chad said with a nod. "No girl can fit into our schedule."

"I can't believe we actually have to _pencil girls in_ now. In high school we didn't have to think twice about a date." Troy said with a shake of his head.

"Yeah, but now we have jobs and a business to run. There's just no way we could find the time to date." Zeke said honestly. "I hate to break it to you, guys, but the only date we're going to have is this Saturday… with each other… at the Samuel's wedding. So get chopping!"

Chad and Troy groaned in annoyance, but didn't argue with Zeke. The large kitchen they were in smelt like garlic and brownies, an unpleasant mix that the three were now used to after months of cooking their famous recipes. As they were cleaning up and packaging their food and placing it in the refrigerator, the phone rang and Troy went to answer it.

"This is _The Three Guys That Cook_ catering service, Troy speaking, how may I help you?" He asked as he grabbed a pen and paper from the desk next to him.

Chad and Zeke listened to Troy as he talked with the caller about the event they would be catering for. Troy was writing quickly on a piece of paper and he nodded and mumbled orders as he listened.

"How did you come across our catering service?" Troy asked once he was done talking about the food.

"I bet they saw my flyers." Chad said proudly to Zeke.

"Dude, your flyers are wimpy pieces of paper. No one would look at those." Zeke laughed.

"Oh, that's weird, well thank you sir." Troy said with a nod as he hung up the phone, writing a few more things down on the piece of paper he had written on before.

"What are we dealing with?" Zeke asked his friend once he came back to the kitchen.

"A wedding with eight hundred people." Troy told them.

"These weddings keep getting bigger and bigger. This is crazy." Chad said. "I'd never invite that many people."

"Well, the good news is you won't have to invite anyone." Zeke chuckled.

Chad shoved him quickly and shook his head angrily at his downer friend.

"So, did they see my flyers?" Chad asked Troy once he was done cursing at Zeke for doubting his ability to one day get married.

"No… do you remember the girls we saw the other day at the McCarthy wedding?" Troy asked.

"Yeah! The hot bakers!" Chad remembered with a smile.

"They recommended us." Troy explained.

"Why would they do that?" Zeke asked.

"Probably because Troy was flirting with the owner!" Chad laughed as he nudged Troy.

"I was not flirting." Troy answered. "I was complementing her on the cake."

"Complementing, flirting, same thing." Chad laughed.

"We should probably thank them somehow. I mean, we just got our biggest job thanks to them." Zeke replied with a shrug.

After a few minutes of thinking of something they could do, the guys were sitting around their laptop that was at the desk in the kitchen, looking up these baking girls.

"What's their bakery called?" Troy asked as he scrolled down the screen of possible bakeries in California.

"Something with 'Girls' in it." Chad said with a nod.

Troy rolled his eyes at his friend and continued to click on random names.

"Wait, right there! Three Girls That Bake." Zeke said as he pointed to the computer screen.

"They like stole our name." Chad said angrily.

"No they didn't, Chad." Zeke said with a sigh.

Troy clicked on their website and the guys stopped arguing about the name when they saw the picture of the three girls that they saw the other day. There was a picture of Sharpay, Taylor, and Gabriella in their kitchen covered in flour as they laughed. The guys couldn't help but smile and Zeke sighed dreamingly.

"The girls of our dreams… right there." Zeke stated honestly.

"What are you talking about, Zeke?" Troy asked.

"Oh come on, Troy, you're honestly going to sit here and say they aren't everything we could ask for? They bake! We cook… it just fits." Zeke said.

"All we know about them is that they bake. They could be like a lemon. Pretty yellow on the outside, but sour on the inside." Troy explained.

"Okay, we definitely need to stop comparing people to food." Chad said with a shake of his head.

"Baking is only one of our specialties." Zeke started reading from their short biography. "After attending one of the top culinary schools and becoming who we are today, we still like to have fun like anyone else would. Shopping, basketball, and dancing in the rain are just a few things we love to do besides baking, and our creative and fun energy can definitely be seen through our cakes." Zeke read. "Now, please tell me you don't still think they're perfect."

"They like basketball, dude." Chad said impressed.

"And dancing in the rain." Zeke said with a goofy smile.

"You know… maybe we should go officially met them." Troy said with a smile as he sat up, taking off his apron and tossing it on the desk.

Zeke patted his friend on the back and they made their way towards the bakery, following the address on the website. They stopped when they got to the front of the bakery and looked at the fancy sign above the doors.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Chad asked nervously now, his confidence and determination slowly disappearing.

"What, are you scared?" Zeke asked with a laugh.

"Our dream girls are in there! Of course I'm scared!" Chad said quickly.

"Just chill. Everything will be fine." Troy said as he opened the door and walked into the bakery.

The three guys inhaled deeply when the warm air hit them. The strong smell of chocolate and just-out-of-the-oven cakes circled around them. They looked around the small shop, noticing no one was there.

"We'll be there in a minute." They heard from the kitchen.

"Dude, look at that cake." Chad said as he pointed to an ocean blue cake with a sign that read _Newest Creation_ above it.

The guys quickly looked away from the large cake when they heard someone clear their throat from the kitchen doorway. The girls were standing there covered in flour and as they saw them they self consciously patted away the flour on their aprons.

"What are you doing here?" Gabriella asked with a smile.

"We just wanted to thank you for recommending us to one of your customers. We really appreciate it." Zeke said to the girls with a nod.

"It's the least we could do. You saved our cake the other day." Taylor said with a smile, looking over at Chad who was smiling goofily.

"So, we didn't come here just to say thanks." Zeke admitted with a laugh, skipping the small talk.

"Really?" Sharpay asked suspiciously, raising her eyebrows with a smile.

"We were kind of wondering if you could go on a date with us…" Troy started as he rubbed his neck awkwardly, glancing at Gabriella, who's eyes were sparkling with excitement.

"Sure!" The girls said together a little too quickly then they should have responded.

"Four weeks from now." Troy finished skeptically as he glanced at his friends next to him.

The girls giggled amongst their selves and nodded as they secretly communicated to each other.

"We understand." Taylor laughed.

"Yeah, there's never a free weekend anymore." Gabriella smiled as she walked towards the calendar behind her. She pointed her fingers at the dates, scanning the pages until she came to the day four weeks from today. "Unfortunately," Gabriella started as she turned to face the awaiting boys. "We're not available for the next two months." She said in disappointment.

"Oh." The guys said somewhat sadly together.

"But I'm sure we'll see each other soon." Gabriella said quickly.

"Okay, yeah, so we'll talk next time then." Troy said with a nod as the guys backed up towards the door. "Nice cake by the way." He said to Gabriella with a quick wink as they left the store.

"Girls, I feel like frosting on a warm cake. I'm totally melting." Gabriella sighed dreamingly.

Zeke kicked a rock on the sidewalk as he sighed and Chad looked up at the bright sky as Troy glanced back into the large window in front of the girl's store.

"They're kinda like broccoli." Chad started as Troy and Zeke groaned. "At first you're scared to try it, but it's really good once you finally do."

"We need to get a life." Zeke protested.

"We do have a life… two months from now." Chad smiled.

The guys stopped when they heard someone calling after them and they smiled as they turned to see Gabriella, Taylor, and Sharpay standing in front of their store.

"Do you want to stay for cake?" Sharpay called after them.

The guys smiled and said at the same time with loving smiles,

"I love cake."

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**Well, there you have it! I don't really know what to say about the next chapter, so just review and I'll get it to you!**

**Much love, **

**unknownbyhim22**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Sorry that I didn't update right away. I was seeing if I could get twenty more reviews for chapter three. I got fifteen, so I'm just as happy. :) Okay, well, lets see how the relationships are coming along. Enjoy!**

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The Bakers and the Caterers

Chapter three

Two months later, a couple dozen events done, and many encounters with the boys, Gabriella breathed deeply as she ran through the wedding hall, carrying cake supporters and extra decorations that they had forgotten to bring earlier. Gabriella had run all the way from her car and was now rushing towards Taylor and Sharpay with the things they needed.

"Make sure it looks perfect." She said quickly as Sharpay started to add the sugar flowers.

The girls stepped back after a few minutes of touchups and they smiled as they saw their work before them. Gabriella looked over at her two best friends and inhaled the air around them with a happy smile.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

Sharpay and Taylor nodded and the three of them walked down the flower filled hallway towards the open doors at the end of it, glancing back at their cake before it was out of sight.

Meanwhile, with the guys, they were unloading their truck with the food for the wedding and they were making trips from the back door of the kitchen to the stainless steel island in the middle of the kitchen for a few minutes before everything was in the kitchen.

They walked towards the reception area and peered out of the kitchen doors at the beautiful set up. They instantly smiled when they saw the cake in the middle of the room, knowing that the girls had been there.

After about a half hour of setting up the food in the reception area, the guys went back in the kitchen, collecting empty containers that were left after getting the food ready. They headed for the door and stopped on the stairs when they saw the girls, Gabriella, Taylor, and Sharpay sitting on the back of their car. They smiled and the girls smiled back.

"We smelt the food." Sharpay explained with a laugh.

"We saw the cake." Zeke smiled at her.

"So, how are our favorite bakers doing?" Chad asked as he set his containers down on the steps and came over to Taylor and sat down next to her.

"We're doing great." Gabriella laughed. "Never been better." She said as she looked up at Troy as he came over to her and stood near her, smiling.

The group smiled at each other, not sure what they should talk about first, but as they were just starting a conversation about the latest movies that had already came out on DVD, it started to rain, and the girls smiled, and the guys extended their hands.

"Would you like to dance?" Troy asked Gabriella as the rain quickly soaked their clothes.

"I'd love to." She smiled as she grabbed his hand and walked out into the middle of the parking lot, swaying with Troy as they danced to the music coming from inside where the bride and groom were now dancing for the first time as husband and wife.

Gabriella smiled as her friends danced next to her and she looked up at Troy, a piece of his hair falling in front of his eyes. She moved it away and looked into his blue, blue eyes.

"Your eyes match my cake." Gabriella whispered as Troy pulled her closer to him.

He smiled a smile only meant for her and leaned forward, kissing her softly as the rain patted against them.

"Troy's like a marshmallow." Chad stated to Taylor, whispering into her ear as she leaned against his chest. "He's a total softy."

"I love when you do that." Taylor giggled as she closed her eyes.

"Do what?" Chad asked as he looked down at her.

"Compare people to food." She smiled.

"Then I'll continue to do it." He smirked as he kissed her head softly.

The group smiled, happy that they finally got their date, even if it wasn't planned or anything official, but they felt it was the start of many more dates and many more dances in the rain.

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**Alright, so that's that. The next chapter is the last one and it's seriously like only four paragraphs, but it tells us how the group ends up a few years later.**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey! Thanks so much for all of the wonderful reviews! This is the last part to this very short story, so I hope you like it! **

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The Bakers and the Caterers

Chapter four

The sky was shimmering brightly against the streets of California; cars were flying down the streets outside and the six friends were looking out at the world before them from the middle of the large empty room. The walls were white, painted only with the paint the builders left on them and the floors were dusty, needed to be swept. It was five years later and a new scene for them all. They were in their new headquarters; their new life together.

"I can't believe it's finally ready." Gabriella said with a proud smile as she looked up at Troy.

He smiled down at her, wrapping his arm around her waist, inhaling her chocolate frosting scent.

"Me either." He agreed as he looked over at his friends beside him.

"I can't wait to paint this place and get everything set up." Sharpay said to the group excitedly.

"Hopefully we'll all be as popular together as we were when we had our separate businesses." Chad said somewhat worried, but confident that it would be a great investment.

"You worry too much, husband." Taylor smiled at him as she patted his chest.

Chad smirked and shot Zeke a look that said told-you-I'd-get-married-one-day. Zeke laughed softly as Chad shot him the look and hugged Sharpay tightly next to him.

"Let's look at the building from outside." Zeke suggested as he tugged at Sharpay's hand, leading everyone outside.

They laughed as they crossed the road to see the store from the best distance and they smiled as they turned to face it. The sign was placed above the large glass windows and it was the only thing completely finished about the store, its swirling letters reading: The Bakers_ and _The Caterers.

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**Really short! :) Okay, review one more time!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


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